List of leaders of North Korea

This is a list of the historical occupations of important government offices in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea .

The political situation is shaped by the dominance of the Kim family. Rulers are essentially based on the Labor Party of Korea (PdAK) and the Korean People's Army . Formally, the highest body of the state is the Supreme People's Assembly , the executive power is exercised by the Council of Ministers . The most important thing for governing the country is the State Affairs Committee of the DPRK , the chairman of which holds the highest office in the state.

The official political structures are taking a back seat to this family's claim to power. Since the independence of North Korea, the de facto power has been with Kim Il-sung (1948-1994), his son Kim Jong-il (1994-2011) and has been held since 2011 by his son Kim Jong-un . The basis of power here is primarily the belonging to the ruling family and less the holding of certain offices. Each of the three rulers held several offices one after the other. All three held the positions of head of state, party and military, although the exact titles could change: Kim Il-sung was still president; an office which, after his death in 1994, was made for eternity by a 1998 constitutional amendment. Something similar happened in 2011 with the death of Kim Jong-il, who was declared the "Eternal Secretary General of the Labor Party" and the "Eternal Chairman of the Military Commission".

Supreme Leader

It is not an office. The term tries to describe the empowerment of the Kim family.

image	Surname	Beginning of rule	End of rule	Offices
	Kim Il-sung	February 8, 1948	July 8, 1994	Commander-in-Chief (1948–1991) Prime Minister (1948–1972) Chairman of the Central Committee of the PdAK (1949–1966) Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the PdAK (1950–1994) General Secretary of the PdAK (1966–1994) President (1972–1994) Chairman of the National Defense Commission (1972–1993) (symbolic) "Eternal President" (since 1998)
	Kim Jong-il	July 8, 1994	December 17, 2011	Commander-in-Chief (1991–2011) Chairman of the National Defense Commission (1993–2011) General Secretary of the PdAK (1997–2011) Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the PdAK (1997–2011) (symbolic) "Eternal Secretary General of the PdAK" and "Eternal Chairman of the National Defense Committee the DPRK "(since 2012)
	Kim Jong Un	December 17, 2011	officiating	Commander-in-Chief (since 2011) First Secretary of the PDAK (2012-2016) Chairman of the PDAK (since 2016) First Chairman of the National Defense Commission (2012-2016) Chairman of the State Affairs Committee (since 2016) Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the PDAK (since 2012)

Heads of state

Chair of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly (1948–1972)
President (1972–1994)
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly (since 1994)

Surname	Beginning of the term of office	Term expires
Kim Du-bong	September 9, 1948	20th September 1957
Choe Yong-gon	20th September 1957	December 28, 1972
Kim Il-sung	December 28, 1972	July 8, 1994
Yang Hyong-sop	July 8, 1994	5th September 1998
Kim Yong-nam	5th September 1998	April 11, 2019
Choe Ryong-hae	April 11, 2019	officiating

prime minister

Chair of the Council of Ministers

Surname	Beginning of the term of office	Term expires
Kim Il-sung	September 9, 1948	December 28, 1972
Kim Il	December 28, 1972	April 29, 1976
Pak Song-chol	April 29, 1976	December 16, 1977
Li Jong-ok	December 16, 1977	January 27, 1984
Kang Song-san (1st time)	January 27, 1984	December 29, 1986
Li Gun-mo	December 29, 1986	December 12, 1988
Yon Hyong-muk	December 12, 1988	December 11, 1992
Kang Song-san (2nd time)	December 11, 1992	February 21, 1997
Hong Song-nam	February 21, 1997	September 3, 2003
Pak Pong-ju (1st time)	September 3, 2003	April 11, 2007
Kim Yong-il	April 11, 2007	June 7, 2010
Choe Yong-rim	June 7, 2010	April 1, 2013
Pak Pong-ju (2nd time)	April 1, 2013	April 11, 2019
Kim Chae-ryong	April 11, 2019	August 13, 2020
Kim Tok-hun	August 13, 2020	officiating

Presidents of Parliament

Chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly (1948–1998)

Chairwoman of the Supreme People's Assembly (since 1998)

Surname	Beginning of the term of office	Term expires
Kim Du-bong	September 9, 1948	20th September 1957
Choe Yong-gon	20th September 1957	December 28, 1972
Hwang Jang-yop	December 28, 1972	1983
Yang Hyong-sop	1983	5th September 1998
Choe Thae-bok	5th September 1998	April 11, 2019
Pak Thae song	April 11, 2019	officiating

Chronology of office successes

Output = Number of MPs

Electoral term	election day	Output	Parliament Speaker *	President	Vice President (s)	Premier **	Vice Premier (s)	cabinet
1st electoral term	08/25/1948	572	Kim Du-bong	-	-	Kim Il-sung	Kim Ch'aek et al. a.	Kim Il-sung I
2nd electoral term	08/27/1957	215	Choe Yong-gon	-	-	Kim Il-sung	Kim Il et al. a.	Kim Il-sung II
3rd electoral term	10/08/1962	383	Choe Yong-gon	-	-	Kim Il-sung	Kim Il	Kim Il-sung III
4th legislative term	December 25, 1967	457	Choe Yong-gon	-	-	Kim Il-sung	Kim Il	Kim Il-sung IV
5th electoral term	12/12/1972	541	-	Kim Il-sung	Choe Yong-gon , Kang Ryang-uk	Kim Il		Kim Il
						Pak Song-chol		Pak Song-chol
6th legislative term	11/11/1977	579	-	Kim Il-sung	Kim Il, Kang Ryang-uk, Pak Song-chol	Ri Jong-ok		Ri Jong-ok I
7th legislative term	02/28/1982	615	-	Kim Il-sung	Kim Il, Kang Ryang-uk, Pak Song-chol	Ri Jong-ok		Ri Jong-ok II
						Kang Song-san		Kang Song-san I.
8th legislative term	11/02/1986	655	-	Kim Il-sung	Pak Song-chol, Rim Chun-chu , Ri Jong-ok	Ri Kŭn-mo		Ri Kun-mo
						Yon Hyong-muk		Yon Hyong-muk I.
9th legislative term	04/22/1990	687	-	Kim Il-sung	Ri Jong-ok, Pak Sung-chol	Yon Hyong-muk		Yon Hyong-muk II
						Kang Song-san		Kang Song-san II
						Hong Song-nam		Hong Song-nam I.
10th legislative term	07/26/1998	687	Kim Yong-nam	-	-	Hong Sŏng-nam	Cho Ch'ang-d'ŏk , Kwak Pŏm-gi	Hong Sŏng-nam II
11th legislative term	08/03/2003	687	Kim Yong-nam	-	-	Pak Pong-ju	Kwak Pŏm-gi, Ro Tu-ch'ŏl , Chŏn Sŭng-hun	Pak Pong-ju I.
						Kim Yŏng-il		Kim Yŏng-il I
12th legislative term	03/08/2009	687	Kim Yong-nam	-	-	Kim Yŏng-il	Kwak Pŏm-gi, T'ae Chong-su , Ro Tu-ch'ŏl	Kim Yŏng-il II
				-	-	Ch'oe Yŏng-rim	Kang Nŭng-su , Kim Rak-hŭi , Ri T'ae-nam , Chŏn Ha-ch'ŏl , Cho Pyŏng-ju , Han Kwang-bok	Ch'oe Yŏng-rim
				-	-	Pak Pong-ju	Ro Tu-chol u. a.	Pak Pong-ju II
13th legislative term	03/09/2014	687	Kim Yong-nam	-	-	Pak Pong-ju	Ro Tu-chol, Im Chol-Ung , Kim Tok-Hun , Ri Ju-o , Ri Ryong-Nam , Jon Kwang-ho , Tong Jong-ho , Ko In-ho	Pak Pong-ju III
14th legislative term	03/10/2019	687	Choe Ryong-hae	-	-	Kim Jae-ryong	Ro Tu-chol, Im Chol-Ung, Kim Tok-Hun, Ri Ju-O, Ri Ryong-Nam, Jon Kwang-ho, Tong Jong-ho, Ko In-ho	Kim Jae-ryong
* officially Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly ; ** officially Chairman of the Council of Ministers
Source: Chronology of Supreme People's Assembly (data to 1990); Korean Central News Agency

Web link

• List of rulers on rulers.org (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Political System: System of State Organs . korea-dpr.com, accessed July 9, 2013.
2. ↑ Federal Foreign Office : Country Info: Korea (Democratic People's Republic, North Korea) (as of March 2013) , accessed on July 9, 2013.
3. ↑ KCNA, kcna.kp , April 13, 2012